Winter Unleashed This Week With Arctic Blast And Another Storm

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The Delaware Valley has begun to settle into a multi-day deep freeze. Even despite a break from stormy weather and sunshine in the forecast through the end of the work week, the mercury will struggle to hit the freezing mark the next few days.

Where is the cold coming from?

In short, Tuesday’s snowstorm dragged colder air into the region. In addition, a reinforcing cold front will help knock the temperatures back even further Wednesday night into Thursday. Plus, anytime the wind blows, it adds insult to proverbial injury.

Just How Cold?

Here’s how it breaks down the next few days in Philadelphia. We mainly see sunshine all 3 days, but don’t let it fool you:

Wednesday: High 31, Wind chills in the lower 20’s
Thursday: High 28, wind chills in the low teens
Friday: High 35, wind chills no warmer than the upper 20’s

*Important note for north most suburbs (i.e. Lehigh Valley/Poconos: Thursday will be dangerously frigid with bitter wind chill values that could drop below zero.

ANOTHER Weekend Storm

It’s amazing to think that Philadelphia has already surpassed last winter’s snowfall totals. Right now we stand at 10.8″ so far in December, and we have a good chance to add a bit more to that total this weekend.

Despite still being several days out (and the fact that this system has yet to even form), model guidance is in pretty good agreement that our region will see *something* this weekend. A storm is expected to gather moisture and eventually organize over the southern Plains Friday. It then streaks toward the mid-Atlantic, and we’ll be in the crossfire by Saturday. It appears the freezing line will set up over our area with marginal temperatures near, just above or below freezing.

My initial thoughts:

– This is mainly a Saturday afternoon – Sunday morning event.
– Our area will see a mixed bag of precipitation including some snow, sleet, and rain (which would keep additional snowfall totals somewhat modest)
– The storm will be moving into the cold air mass that’s setting up through Friday. That means the storm would likely start with snow and eventually change over or mix with sleet and rain, some of which might even freeze on contact.

Of course, much can change! As the setup evolves and new model runs are issued, count on the Eyewitness Weather Team to keep you up to date and informed.